The Background: Unpopular opinions: we all have them. Sometimes you stand alone in loving a super niche-y run of a popular comic book series (like Sarah and her Tefe Holland thing). Sometimes you’re the only person on the entire planet to ’ship a certain ’ship. Sometimes you simply Do Not Get a movie the rest of your geeky brethren is falling all over themselves about. And because a lot of fandom is about sharing loves and hates and communing with your fellow geeks, this can feel awfully lonely. But perhaps if we confess our most unpopular opinions for all the internet to see…well, we’ll feel just a little bit better.

Here’s what you do: On February 17, write up a blog post with your own True Geek Confession. Send your link to sarah AT alertnerd DOT com. We will add you to our master list blog post and you can link back to said post. It will be exciting and wonderful and will hopefully not provoke too many “die in a fire” type arguments.

Of course, we Smugglers could not let the opportunity pass for another geek-out session in which we are to share our deepest, darkest, geekiest secrets ever. It is not going to be pretty, but with the Powers of Greyskull guiding us, we shall bare our souls to you! **NOTE: We are posting our entry a day early because of a scheduling conflict! So all you folks have an extra day to come up with your own Geek Confessions, should the mood strike!**

Ana

I will just go ahead and say it:

Ewoks.

I luuurves them.

There. I said it. And I will not be ashamed of it.

I loved the Ewoks for years before I came to love Star Wars and, I didn’t even know this was an unpopular opinion until a few years ago when I finally watched the movies. Come to think of it, maybe my True Geek Confession should have been: I didn’t watch the original Start Wars trilogy until 1999 when I decided to get ready for the Phantom Menace ( I have no reason, no excuse for that I am afraid. I was lame, that is all. I hang my head in shame, please do not revoke my geek card?).

But anyways. Ewoks. I grew up watching the dudes. One of my favorite movies when I was a child was Caravan of Courage – that movie with the family stranded in Endor with the cute little sister befriending the Ewoks and the Ewoks helping them retuning with their parents?

It seemed to be on TV all the time and I watched it every single time. It is one of my fondest childhood memories and I can’t think of it without having a severe case of the sniffles.

Cuteness Overload

I haven’t watched the movie in ages and I am not sure it will stand the test of times. But I am not sure I even want to know.

But then there was also the cartoon which was one of my favorites.

It was on in the mornings in the same children’s program that aired Dungeons and Dragons and Thundercats. Whenever I was able to stay home from school or when on holidays, I always tried to watch these!

So to me the Ewoks evoke childhood, the memories of watching television in the afternoon after doing homework, drinking milk with cookies. I associate it with good things, always. So when I finally watched The Return of the Jedi in a special session at the movies (pre Phantom Menace) with a bunch of friends who were Star Wars fanatics and I saw the Ewoks and I was like, “OMG the Ewoks, I love them” and my friends looked at me positively horrified and tried to explain to the newbie how the Ewoks destroyed the Return of the Jedi with their cuteness or some such bullshit I was just like “Yeah, yeah, whatever, talk to the hand.”

I love the Ewoks. That is my True Geek Confession. Who else is with me?

Thea:

First off, Ana, I am with you. I first saw Star Wars when I was a young girl of six, and I immediately loved Jawas, all the different droids, and, yeah, Ewoks. I still have my DVD of Caravan of Courage. *pumps fist in the air with Ana*

1. Sky High is essentially a young superhero story, in a sort of New Mutants/Teen Titans sensibility. You’ve got a universe where superheroes are commonly known and accepted, and kids with superpowers attend Sky High – a high school in the sky (that constantly moves location for the kids’ safety from super villains and the like). The movie follows Will Stronghold, son of superstar superheroes The Commander (gifted with super strength and invulnerability, played by Kurt Russell) and Jetstream (gifted with the power of flight, played by Kelley Preston), on his first day as a freshman at Sky High. All the freshman have to go through “Power Placement” – that is, they show Coach Boomer (a hilarious Bruce Campbell – who, incidentally, is the perfect I-take-myself-waaaaaaay-too-seriously Gym Coach) their superpower, and he determines whether they go on the Hero track, or the Sidekick track. That is, depending on how badass the kid’s superpower, he or she is relegated to a life of High School popularity and career prosperity….or nerdy mediocrity. Will has a LOT to live up to, as the son of two very famous superheroes, and he’s got a big problem: his superpower hasn’t manifested yet. It might not manifest at all. And he, along with his friends, are relegated to sidekick duty.

The Sky High Kids

Of course, there’s a diabolical plan from an unlikely super villain (recruiting other young villains, world domination, etc). AND even better, romance, high school drama, best friends, the whole gamut. What is NOT to love about this awesome geekiness?

And these are just the adults! The kids are fantastic too – I love the guy that plays hero Will, Michael Angarano (whom you may recently have seen in Gentlemen Broncos or The Forbidden Kingdom). Layla, played by Danielle Panabaker (of the crappy Friday the 13th remake) is awesome, as is Steven Strait (10,000 B.C., The Covenant, Stop-Loss). Made of WIN.

4. Little touches like the costumes/wardrobe and music. Each character has a specific color scheme: Will (and his mom and dad) only wears red, white, and blue. Layla, the hippie-ish girl with Poison Ivy caliber super powers over plants, only wears green. Magenta, surly girl that shapeshifts into a guinea pig, purple. Gwen Grayson, smart, popular, class president, wears pink. Etc, etc, etc.

All the boys in the film wear converse all stars for the entire film, in the color of their wardrobe (an homage to The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, a Disney film from the 1960s starring Kurt Russell).

All the music is from the ’80s but recorded by new artists. It’s the little things that really stick out and make Sky High so much fun.

Popular kids Gwen & Penny

5. The high school movie awesomeness. There’s an unrequited love story, the pressure of living up to your parents’ legacy, the ever-present dichotomy between “cool kids” and “geeks,” high school nemeses, bullies, crazy teachers…you name it.

So there you have it. My love affair with Sky High is one that I am no longer ashamed to share! Yeah, it’s cheesy, yeah it’s Disney – but damn, it’s good. I watched it in the theater with my baby sister when it first came out and was hooked.

So there you have it! Our very own True Geek Confessions. Anyone that wants to make something of it, or share your own confession, we invite you to comment away. Remember, you can join in the posting fun – just write up your own True Geek Confession post and then shoot the link over to Alert Nerd.

As for us, we’ll be around. Now, excuse us while we watch our Caravan of Courage and Sky High dvds…

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Ana Grilo is a Brazilian who moved to the UK because of the weather. No, seriously. She works with translations in RL and hopes one day The Book Smugglers will be her day job. When she’s not here at The Book Smugglers, she is hogging our Twitter feed.

39 Comments

Ana, you and I, we share the Ewok love. I don’t get the bad rep they’ve developed. I grew up watching the Ewok movies (I bought the DVDs when they were released and watch them all the time–I am still in love with Teek after about 20 years!) before I even knew they were Star Wars or what Star Wars was.

What’s more shameful? I watched the trilogy for the first time in 1997 when the Special Editions were released and went the entire year never knowing the Special Editions were in the theater. I think my obsession has blown the lid on that, though, so I’ve made up for it pretty quickly.

I think Ewoks are awesome. They’re furry, they’re crazy, and aren’t afraid to attack a bunch of silly Stormtroopers with big blasters and scary armor with a bit of voodoo style magic and some good old-fashioned rocks and sticks.

Veronica F.

February 16, 2010 at 1:01 am

oh geez, Idk if I wanna do this b/c I have a seriously unpopular True Geek Confession. But here goes: you know how Alert Nerd said, “Sometimes you simply Do Not Get a movie the rest of your geeky brethren is falling all over themselves about.”? Well…*nervous gulp* I hate Star Wars 😕
I never saw it as a kid, but when I finally saw them (friends insisted)pre-Phantom Menace I was bored. And that goes for all of them. My eyes just glaze over at the hint of any Star Wars talk.

I'm trying to think if I have a True Geek Confession. Of course, there are plenty of super-geeky things that I love, but I think the point is that it has to be something generally considered as not cool to love, right? Even by geeks…

Hmm… I will ponder.

Hazel

February 16, 2010 at 4:37 am

I would write my own, but it would be the post that never ends. I seem to have a knack for falling madly in love with characters everyone else hates.

I also love Ewoks and Sky High. In fact, I went on a quest this Xmas to find DVDs of the “original theatrical release” of Jedi as a present for my husband, so we could hear the EWOK SONG. Because it’s SO MUCH BETTER than the weirdo new agey thing they replaced it with.

I have already written my True Geek Confession several years ago, which is that I don’t like the new Battlestar Galactica series.

Hazel, you’re in good company. My pal Sarah Rees Brennan has the craziest ships of anyone I know.

Anyway, I said I really love Sky High. Also, Ewoks. In fact, I went on a quest last Xmas to find the original theatrical release of Jedi so we could hear the real Ewok song at the end instead of the new agey dumb thing they replaced it with.

My True Geek Confession has already been written about, and it’s that I do not like the new Battlestar Galactica series, and everyone else loves it.

I LOVE Sky High! LOVE IT! For pretty much all the reasons you mentioned (especially the casting of Dave Foley as an older sidekick – a man who continues to look absurdly boyish despite being in his late 40s), but also the throwaway lines – such as when the hero discovers who the villain really is (“Ew – I made out with an old lady!”).

I saw Sky High at the movies with my kids and liked it. It’s now one of the few movies I don’t want to leave the room when they put it on the DVD player. Didn’t know about the tennis shoe trivia – interesting!

The other thing I wanted to say was that I chortled all through Sky High because when I was in college, “Warren Peace” was the code name of this kid we all thought was super adorable, and we use to sit around talking about “Warren” and etc. (yes, in *college*, not middle school, and I agree, it’s a wonder I ever got a real boyfriend). But the Sky High Warren Peace definitely would have qualified for the code name. Love his hair.

Adrienne

February 16, 2010 at 2:42 pm

Dudes…really??? I got to say um…not sure what to say 😯 Jawas I totally get.. Ewoks? Though extremely cute and fuzzy, they took away the pleasure of Skywalker and Darth’s fight but as a fellow nerd, I respect your honesty 😆

Does Real Genius count on the nerd level?? I can’t NOT watch it when it comes on 😀

Tiffany M.

I loved the Ewok movies when I was younger too. I would watch them over and over again. I wanted n Ewok for a friend when I was a little kid. And yes in high school I had some fellow geeky friends who tried to tell me that Ewoks were not cool, but they can be damned because I loved ’em anyways. I was very excited to see them in Star Wars. Pleased as punch.

Holyfreakingshit I thought I was the only one! Isn’t Sky High the BEST THING EVER? Okay, not the best thing, but yeah. I remember seeing it when I was eleven and then buying it with an Itunes giftcard for my Ipod and watching it all the time and NO JOKE I bought a tshirt at Hot Topic I KID YOU NOT. This was before I knew who the Teen Titans were (other then that show) and…okay, I’ll shut up. Great post 🙂

I always thought the ewoks were cute, but my husband has such a strong hate for them. It always puzzled me. He’s such a SW fanboy, but one mention of ewoks (or Jar Jar Binks, for that matter) and he loses it. ::shakes head::

I didn’t think I’d enjoy Sky High as much as I did. I saw it with my son last year, and I think I liked it as much as he did. Esp. the hero/sidekick determinations in the gym. Totally cracked me up!

Well, until last month, my geek confession was that I’d never read/finished a Tolkien book, but we know how that turned out! 😉

I love Ewoks too! I’ve never seen any of this tie-in stuff but they are one of my favorite things about Return of the Jedi. I can’t help feeling like part of the prejudice against them is that guy Star Wars fans are annoyed because girl Star Wars fans like them and then they’re all “REAL Star Wars fans hate Ewoks!” Not so much, guys.

Thea already knows how I feel about Sky High. I initially watched because of the Dave Foley/Kevin McDonald reunion, but it swiftly won me over with its cute teen superheroics. Adorable, and the comparisons to Teen Titans/New Mutants are totally apt!

Heather

February 18, 2010 at 11:43 am

I adore Sky High. It’s so much cheesy fun. Then name Warren Peace will never stop cracking me up.

OKAY I LOVE sky high hands down one of my favorite super hero like movies LOL I love the heroes as teenagers and how they come to be. Love Warren Peace AKA Steven Strait.
Great post it does insipre one but I see that I am a day late and a dollar short LOL nothing new there.

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The Book Smugglers

noun
1 : a book review blog specializing in speculative fiction and popgeekery for all ages since 2008.
2 : a publisher of speculative short fiction and nonfiction since 2014.
3 : 2018 Hugo Nominee for Best Semiprozine
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